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From the archives: Is Howard Michaels the toughest boss in real estate?

The hard-driving commercial finance middleman has already done $5 billion in deals this year, but has a reputation as the 'Ari Gold' of the business

Howard Michaels in his office at 560 Lexington Avenue last month.
Howard Michaels in his office at 560 Lexington Avenue last month.

Thirty-four years ago, Howard Michaels was knocking on doors in the 2.3 million-square-foot Starrett-Lehigh office building, hawking copy machines for the 3M Company.

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“I was making bupkis,” Michaels recalled.

Those days are undoubtedly over. In 2004, he arranged a $219 million recapitalization of that same building, earning a seven-figure commission for his company, a real estate investment advisory firm known as the Carlton Group. Read the full story from the October 2011 issue here.

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